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The cleanest-cut member of Serenity's crew (which isn't really saying much), Doctor Simon Tam is also the source of all
the ship's problems after seeking refuge with his fugitive sister, River. Sean Maher is the man behind the stethescope.
How different was Serenity from Firefly?
To me, everything's just more spectacular, it's just on a larger scale, its grander and not just the size of the screen. The
details of the set, of the costumes and just the way it was shot. But it's the same in that I think it has the same tone,
it's written by Joss so it has the humour, and the same dynamics, and the same driving forces and the storylines are as endearing
as they were with the series.
This must be a kind of homecoming for you. You must have been gitted when the show was cancelled, how did it feel when
you heard Firefly was back as a movie?
I was absolutely thrilled. It was funny, because I've had a bunch of cancelled series so I felt tainted in a way. When Firefly
was cancelled I was like 'alright it's done' you know, 'what a shame.' But the day it was cancelled Joss was like 'I will
not rest until I find a port for this ship' and there was this sense of hope that I got from him, I believed him. It was a
gift in so many ways, you know, it's a blessing. The people I was working with, the cast, we just gelled together so quickly,
like right out of the gate and there was this organic mutual admiration we had for each other which I think translates onto
the screen. Even Joss was saying he started writing the characters after watching the actors interact and it sort of all grew
from there. But yeah, when it was cancelled I just… I thought that maybe there would be another life to it further than
the show, but again, because of my past experiences I was very dubious.
It can be quite heartbreaking working in TV.
Yeah. But then I remember being away for a while and then I came back to LA and went to Joss' house for dinner one night,
just me and Summer. He came out with the script and told me to read it and I was like 'wow', you know? I was amazed it was
actually moving forward, and moving forward quicker than I'd ever imagined. We sat down at the table and read our parts and
it felt like a miracle. The first day, just to hear the actors all speak the words again was really moving.
What Joss does better than anyone else is dialogue. Do you really appreciate that as an actor?
Yeah.I think it's really good dialogue, it's just… it's so unique. I love the tone and the slang. Serenity's a post-apocalyptic
western, but I think the most wonderful thing for me about Joss' writing is that he interweaves this incredible wit and humour
at the moments where you don't expect them. It lightens the tone in so many ways. And Nathan just innately gets that humour,
you know? It's fantastic. I think it's very much to do with the actors, it's kind of hard sometimes to speak the dialogue,
but I think Nathan really does it beautifully. You know, the drama and the comedy and the romance, and he's just… the
way he does it is truly memorable.
Are you a fan of science fiction in general?
That's a tough question because initially… when I was told about the pilot and given the science-fiction tag, I was
not attracted to it at first. But I do think that first Firefly and now Serenity are their own genre, you can’t really
call it specifically science-fiction as in Star Trek or Star Wars. This completely new world was one where Joss created an
altered reality that, to me, is complete and whole. It’s not so much about science-fiction as much as it is about humanity
and the characters and how they get by.
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